Deep in the heart of the Midwest lies the Mid-American Conference. What many do not know is that the MAC is the third-largest Division 1-A conference in terms of total enrollment, and the fourth largest conference in terms of undergraduate population. The MAC is made up of 13 large public universities, 9 of which are in Ohio and Michigan.
I like the MAC. The MAC plays good football, albeit under the radar of more exposed conferences such as the Big Ten. The better teams here can hold their own with anyone, but the entire conference suffers from a lack of depth and a relative lack of resources. Don't be surprised if this conference pulls a couple of upsets over big-name schools this year. They have 18 games against Big Ten schools this season, in addition to other non-conference matchups.
The 13 teams are split into two divisions, with the division winners meeting in the MAC Championship Game, to be held in Detroit in December. This season, only games within the division will count in the conference standings.
In the East, the Fighting Frank Soliches, a/k/a the Ohio Bobcats, are my pick to win the division. Kent State will be pretty good as well, but they must travel to the banks of the Hocking River to take on Ohio in Athens. The teams in this division benefit from the presence of Temple and Buffalo. Both of these programs are the ultimate bottomfeeders in college football.
MAC East:
Ohio 9-3 5-1
Kent State 7-5 5-1
Bowling Green 6-6 4-2
Miami, Ohio 6-6 3-3
Akron 4-8 2-4
Temple 1-11 1-5
Buffalo 0-12 0-6
In the West, look for the Toledo Rockets to blast off once again. Northern Illinois should be pretty good again, and many pundits are picking Western Michigan to win this side of the MAC. Eastern Michigan looks to bring up the rear in this division. If only they were lucky enough to play Temple or Buffalo this year.
MAC West:
Toledo 10-2 5-0
Northern Illinois 8-4 4-1
Western Michigan 6-6 3-2
Ball State 4-8 2-3
Central Michigan 2-10 1-4
Eastern Michigan 1-11 0-5
6 comments:
Go Rockets Go! I hope they do better this year! I hope they at least beat Bowling Green!
My preference is OU of the East. Athens is a great college town.
OU SUCKS.
That could be my FF team name.
Better yet ... OU AND UT SUCKS.
LOL!
You may be on to something there. LOL
And people could wonder if I mean U of OK and U of TX or O Uni and U of Toledo! ;)
Well, Ohio is technically the real OU, since the name of the school is Ohio University. They call themselves Ohio more than they call themselves OU.
OU in Norman follows the traditional Big 8 naming convention, as OU=Univ of OK, KU=Univ of KS, CU=Univ of CO, NU=Univ of NE, and MU=Univ of MO.
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